Startups I went from idea to MVP in 5 weeks by stealing my GF's coding bootcamp notes... how do I give my MVP a fair chance to gauge traction? |
- I went from idea to MVP in 5 weeks by stealing my GF's coding bootcamp notes... how do I give my MVP a fair chance to gauge traction?
- pre-sell the service to clients?
- Help request about partnership and shares in a new business
- Should I register my startup beta app ?
- Question for those of you who run Social media/Digital Agency companies
- How do you find a great growth hacker?
- Social media tracking tool Startup
- (Great Read) Why Sofware Based Tech Startups Usually Fail.
- Prevent disputes/scams in a p2p marketplace?
| Posted: 08 Feb 2018 03:06 PM PST The MVP is live. Since I can't post the URL as per sub rules, the description is that it is a tool for owners of chat groups to charge their members a monthly subscription to maintain their membership or to become a member. The chat group owner gets a nice landing page where members hit join now, and set up their payment via Stripe -- I'm a UX designer, but I managed to hack together the MVP in 5 weeks (after failing to finish building several other MVP's in the last 8 months because of coding roadblocks). My GF did a coding bootcamp and I tried to follow her curriculum, at least the stuff that was relevant to building a basic web app in Ruby on Rails. I want to give my MVP a fair chance to gauge traction before improving the product or moving on, any ideas on getting it some eye balls appreciated (it's pretty niche) [link] [comments]  |
| pre-sell the service to clients? Posted: 08 Feb 2018 10:52 PM PST I've an idea that I'm building and it'd help brick and more stores of all kinds wether service oriented or product oriented get new customers. I think it's good and viable. So my question is while I'm building it, would it be possible to presell it some of the bigger clients. I want to know what is the logistics of it. Obviously you'd have to show progress, and show that you can pull it off. Any story of how someone presold there software to before writing a line of code with agreement that we will build this. [link] [comments]  |
| Help request about partnership and shares in a new business Posted: 08 Feb 2018 06:13 PM PST I started a business a couple of year ago,it have been runing ok, I haven't become a rich person but things are moving. Due to some sircumstances I had to immigrate to a different country leaving the business managemente to someone else. Now, I want to begin a new business (expand the one I already have) and begin operations here(The "other" country). The idea is to setup a minimal working team, one or two sales rep and me as the on site engineer, and forward all work to the existing company and just coordinate things and eventually stablishing a local workforce, also minimal as is much more cost effective to do the actual work in the original company. During my client search, I stumbled across this businessman who showed interes in my business and wanted to be part of it. This person has a company that has been arround for like 20 years at least, his company is very well known in the community (he inherited it from his father, this person himself did nothing to the success of the company, he only iherited it, this is his only merit). He offers a 10,000 usd investment, he also offers to introduce our services to his client base and use his contacts to help us get projects. This has the potential to boost our initial growth, in exchange for this, this investor wants a 50% equity. I don't really need any investment, also, I have some good projects with worldly renowed brands that also operate here, this I hope will help me to gain trust with potential customers, I am also looking to work with those brands here too, so, in my eyes I really don't see the need of this kind of help for the amount of equity the investor is asking. Also, for me, is clear that the "usefullness" of the investor is only limited to the potential boost in initial business relationships we can have, this usefullness will be nullified once we can have a proper sales department in place. My business is IT related, the want to be partner business is not, he has no engineers on his staff and has no technological proficiency. Of course, I am over simplifying things here, but, from my point of view, I can't see the value on the investor proposal that justifies the 50% of equity. I don't even need the money. I can produce enought capital to run the company for at least 3 years with the "minimal" configuration. I clearly believe that eventually I will end up carrying a dead weight after some time, an expensive one if I accept such a deal. I would like to hear any advice you can give me on things that I may not be considering and what would be a good amount of equity given the circumstances. Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Should I register my startup beta app ? Posted: 08 Feb 2018 09:38 AM PST I have created an application that is currently in beta, and I am now in the process of customer discovery and pitching. I never really thought of registering the app as a business until it gains traction, and proves to be a good idea. I am not making any money off of it yet. However I have seen some beta apps with terms of services and privacy policy My question is: Do you find what I am doing to be the right approach ? or do you recommend registering beta applications as an LLC/C-corp as soon as possible ? [link] [comments]  |
| Question for those of you who run Social media/Digital Agency companies Posted: 08 Feb 2018 02:50 AM PST I'm just curious in exploring the possibility of turning my brand into a digital agency company. I see alot of overlap in the skills I already have, and I feel a digital agency could produce a stornger revenue model. I have no idea what the back end process is like so would someone just roughly give me an explanation of what goes on? In my head it goes something like this:
Questions I have:
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| How do you find a great growth hacker? Posted: 08 Feb 2018 02:16 PM PST I'm about to launch a stock trading app. We have a marketing plan in place (social media ads, press list, etc), but want to really nail the launch and grow fast. How do you guys identify talented growth hackers that know your industry well? I want someone who knows how to hustle, and knows the little tricks that we might be missing. Also, I want to bring someone on as a contractor for the month or two of launch. I know there would be some ramp up time to understand the product, define strategy, and execute, but we probably couldn't afford a full time hire. Any tips for how to mitigate this and do this effectively? [link] [comments]  |
| Social media tracking tool Startup Posted: 08 Feb 2018 05:00 AM PST I work for a startup (9 folks so far) as a Wordpress designer, SEO and QA (for the app) and have a small stake in the company . We are are developing and promoting a newish social media analytics tool it posts, schedules and tracks (social media post to website traffic, this is our USP) from T, FB & LI. It is not a free product but there is a free trial (costs are going to vary and are negotiable at the moment to be honest and a Freemium version is planned). We have sold a few licenses and have several more trials on going. The product is being constantly updated and our message changing often. I am trying to get it noticed and have working on improving the SEO we are also producing blogs and have started an outreach campaign to do some guest posting. I would love to hear any further suggestions of what we could do to move us on to the next level. [link] [comments]  |
| (Great Read) Why Sofware Based Tech Startups Usually Fail. Posted: 08 Feb 2018 12:11 PM PST Avoiding a "black swan" project is every organization's plan, but actually developing successful software within the budget and the scheduled timeline is easier said than done. A whopping 52.7% of software projects cost 189% of their original estimates. On top of that, the average software project is delayed beyond its predicted schedule by 33%. With stats like these, it's no wonder custom software development projects are enough to make CEO's cringe. Disclaimer: No project ever went completely smoothly from strategy to implementation. The Agile Methodology has been heavily adopted by the development community to combat this recurring issue. What is Success? To start, let's define what "success" is when it comes to custom software development projects. It's important to remember that project success is not always defined as product success. Some projects may not even produce a product. A project is considered successful if: Project is completed on time Project is completed within the budget Project serves the needs of its users Four factors influence the success of every project. These are 1) cost, 2) quality, 3) speed and 4) risk. The first three may be obvious. The last factor, however, is also present in every software development project. Try this scenario on for size; a high-quality product can be built relatively quickly at an affordable rate by skimping on testing. The risks associated with little or no testing increase the possibility of project failure. What is Failure? Project failure happens when one of the four factors above independently or interdependently consumes your project. Failure can also be minimal or no market adoption or effectively serving the wrong market. Project failure can look like any of the following: Project solved the wrong problem. Optimistically, this could open new doors. Product not used or adopted by the market Content deficiencies, i.e., issues or bugs within software limiting its capabilities Budget was extended Timeline was extended Where to Place the Blame for Project Failure Placing the blame for project failure on a developer is a lot like scolding the soccer goalie for not blocking a shot. While the goalie is the last line of defense, the ball quite literally made its way through the entire team before it was placed perfectly into the top corner, just beyond the goalie's fingertips. Software development is the same. While the developer(s) is the one writing the code, a project can fail for any number of reasons besides coding mistakes. Each team member's mistakes collectively lead to project failure. The Top Three Reasons Custom Software Projects Fail
Detailed project specifications and requirements are essential to any successful software project. A standardized project management methodology will also allow the team to scope and plan development tasks accurately. We heart Agile, but a project isn't doomed nor surely successful based on the development methodology chosen. Moreover, adopting a methodology that integrates well with the development tools slated for the project could result in greater efficiency and lower costs.
Like we mentioned above, you can't place blame on a single team member for project failure, but you can draft a really good team! A developer's programming skills can and will directly influence the success or failure of their projects. The more skilled the developers are, the better your team will be. Every team wants a Lionel Messi, but sometimes you end up with an Ali Dia. Dependent on the complexity of your project and the skill set of your existing team, it's important to keep in mind who your developers will work best with. Reliable, smart Project Owners are equally as important as skilled developers. Make sure that this person has built similar products to yours. These people come at a cost, but that cost is far less than a failed project. Adding more developers to your team may seem like a great idea, but this is not always the best option. With a team consisting of a few skilled developers and one good technical lead, your project has far greater chances of success than a big team cranking out lots of messy code.
This might sound a little crazy coming from a custom software development company, but developing a brand new custom product without a prototype or MVP is a bad idea. If you know exactly what you want out of your technical team and what your users want, you're sure to have much more success. Cheers! [link] [comments]  |
| Prevent disputes/scams in a p2p marketplace? Posted: 08 Feb 2018 05:02 AM PST I have an idea I was hoping to make something of but have run into a bit of a dilemma. The idea itself is pretty simple, eCommerce startups need product photos, especially clothing startups may need lifestyle/model product shots as well. You can outsource these shots but it gets expensive including shipping the product both ways. With this idea I would set up a marketplace where startups could create a listing with their product and the kinds of photos they need taken. Amateur and professional photographers could come and browse the listings and make offers to take the jobs. The startup would then send the product to the photographer, the photographer would do the shoot, then the photographer gets to keep the product as payment. In a perfect world everyone leaves happy, no money has to be involved, the startup has new photos while the photographer has some new stuff. However, it's not a perfect world and soon people will take advantage of being sent free stuff on the promise of taking photos. So my question is How do I prevent people from scamming each other in such a marketplace? The best way I've thought to solve it is the startup lists the price of the product and when the photographer takes the job they put the value of that item into escrow, if they then cut and run the money is released to the startup or if they deliver then the money is released back to the photographer. However this now lends to the startup being a scammer by saying the photographer never delivered and starting a dispute to take the funds. I feel like the only way this marketplace would be successful is if it was kept very simple, and kept money out of it since then they'd be better off going to a professional. I also would ideally like to be able to stay largely out of the dispute process as Im just an individual so If be overrun quickly and don't know how to make the correct judgement anyway. Is this something I could just let go and have reviews/portfolios take care of? [link] [comments]  |
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